Picture Bill Gates, caps lock jammed on, shouting “I MADE MICROSOFT!” at Elon Musk. A viral Instagram post says Musk joked about buying Microsoft just to fire Gates, and that Gates fired back with exactly that line. I went looking for the original. This fake Musk Gates Microsoft post has no source I could find, and that is the story.
Here’s what jumped out at me. The post is a graphic, not a news report. It names no date, no venue and no interview, and it never links to a Musk post, a Gates post or a Microsoft statement.
When a juicy quote has no home, that tells you plenty.
What the Musk Gates Microsoft post claims, and what we could confirm
The screenshot comes from the account @millionaire_mentor. Its caption is cut off mid-sentence (“Elon Musk buying Microsoft just to…”), so even the claim itself is hard to read. The Gates card inside the graphic says Musk “didn’t create” Tesla and ends with the shouted line about Microsoft.
We found no primary source for either side of the exchange. No Musk post, no Gates post and no transcript or video of an interview turned up. No reputable outlet reported the joke or the reply either.
The search was not exhaustive, so this could change. For now, the Musk buy Microsoft claim is unconfirmed.
Why the viral Musk Gates post looks off
The “Gates post” reads like a meme, not like anything Gates normally writes. It also gets basic facts wrong. It says Musk “didn’t create” X, but he bought Twitter and later renamed it.
The image itself looks like an AI-style composite of Microsoft and SpaceX buildings and a rocket launch. It does not look like a news photo.
Nor is this new. A fake “account suspended” screenshot of Gates went viral in 2022, and PolitiFact rated that claim False. Fake Gates and Musk cards travel fast because both men are famous and both are always in the news.
Musk is a frequent target of unverified claims, as our look at Musk’s Starlink and Ukraine claim shows.
The real Musk Gates feud
Here’s the thing: the feud is real, so the fake feels believable. And a fake that feels believable is the kind you might forward to your group chat without a second look. Gates confirmed a Tesla short position in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 Musk biography, according to Yahoo Finance. Musk has since publicly urged Gates to close it. Gates has not publicly confirmed that he did.
Musk also pressed the point after reports that Gates’ foundation sold much of its Microsoft stake, Yahoo Finance reported. So the two men have traded real jabs for years. That history gives a made-up one-liner something solid to stand on.
The two are also on the record about something bigger. A Yahoo Finance piece from October 2 contrasts Musk’s prediction of “universal high income” with Gates’ focus on the tax and labor problems of the AI transition.
That is real Musk-and-Gates content. It just isn’t as shareable as a shouted catchphrase.
How to check a post like this before you share it
Look for the original. Search Musk’s X account and the verified @BillGates account. Check the Microsoft newsroom. Swipe the full carousel for a source link. Run a reverse image search on the card.
If none of that turns up a post, treat the Musk Gates Microsoft joke as fiction. The same habit helps with other viral numbers, like the Dell stock plunge claims we verified.
We’ll update this story if Musk, Gates or Microsoft addresses it. Until then, the loudest voice in this “feud” is a graphic with no source. Would you take a quote from that in person?
